Numerical Simulation of Sprinkler Performance.
Numerical Simulation of Sprinkler Performance.
(430 K)
McGrattan, K. B.; Forney, G. P.
Fire Suppression and Detection Research Application
Symposium. Research and Practice: Bridging the Gap.
Proceedings. Fire Protection Research Foundation.
February 24-26, 1999, Orlando, FL, 79-85 pp, 1999.
Keywords:
fire suppression; fire detection; fire research; fire
safety; fire protection; sprinklers; simulation;
industrial buildings; numerical models; water; droplets;
computational fluid dynamics
Abstract:
Rapidly, changing building designs, uses, materials,
contents, fire protection and the general intermix of
industrial/commercial and residential occupancies has
created a need to understand the potential hazards and
losses from fires and performance of fire protection
systems under conditions that may not be specifically
addressed by historic fire testing and codes. In the
absence of an accurate understanding of potential fire
events, excessively conservative decisions are made,
usually increasing costs and creating barriers to
innovation. It is impractical and in many cases too
hazardous to physically test fire scenarios of interest.
The only practical means to provide the insight and
performance assurance historically provided by physical
testing for the performance of fire protection systems
is to develop computational simulations capable of
creating virtual large scale fire experiments. In
cooperation with individual sprinkler manufacturers, the
National Fire Sprinkler Association, Factory Mutual
Research Corporation, and Underwriters Laboratories, an
industrial fire simulation (IFS) system is being
developed at NIST to generate predictions of fires in
industrial facilities protected entirely or in part by
automatic fire sprinklers. The IFS system consists of a
large eddy simulation (LES) based fire model, with
specified means to measure input data and deliver
results. This technology will allow industry to gain
valuable insight into the interaction of fire sprinklers
with industrial storage fuel fires and other fire
protection systems, such as roof vents and draft
curtains. It will provide a new means to evaluate the
facilities designs for cases that are not practical to
test because of size, safety, or expense. This system
will enable a movement from demonstrated performance by
physical testing to reliable performance evaluation by
engineering calculation.
